Vigil planned for 2 teens slain in Ohio shooting

Published: January 3, 2014 11:16AM

BARBERTON, Ohio (AP) -- Police are still searching for clues in the New Year's Eve shooting deaths of two teens as family and friends make funeral arrangements and plan a candlelight vigil in their northeast Ohio community.

Police in Barberton, a small city near Akron, say they have few leads and no suspects in the Tuesday night shooting that killed 18-year-old Ashley Carpenter and 14-year-old David Kohler-Carpenter. Their father, John Kohler, 42, and his girlfriend, Ronda Blankenship, also were shot and are in critical condition.

The shooting happened at John Kohler's home, where the teens were visiting their father for New Year's Eve.

Police said the family was likely targeted for a robbery, but a spokeswoman wouldn't go into why investigators believe that.

A family friend told The Akron Beacon Journal that Ashley Carpenter had planned to get married after graduating from Barberton High School this spring. And her brother wanted to follow his sister's footsteps and play the clarinet in the Barberton High School band after he graduated from Barberton Middle School.

"They were good kids," said Haleina Pouncey, whose daughter, Tabbie, was best friends with Ashley Carpenter.

"All I know is I'm on my way to the funeral home to make arrangements for my kids, my babies," their mother, Leiha Carpenter, told WEWS-TV on Thursday.

"I have to live the rest of my life without them," she said. "This (perpetrator) needs to be found, and I suggest they find him before my family does."